Novel Biocomposites from Biobased Epoxy and Corn-Based Distillers Dried Grains (DDG)

The growing ethanol production around the world demands more value-added applications for its main byproduct, distillers grains. The present work reports the study of using corn based distillers dried grains (DDG) as biofillers for biobased epoxy resin and the mechanical, physical and thermal properties of the composites. The biobased epoxy resin is the blend of diglycidylether of bisphenol-A based resin and epoxidized soybean oil. The incorporation of DDG into the biobased resin accelerated the curing process as evident from the differential scanning calorimetry and temperature-modulated Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The 40 wt% DDG filled composite showed an excellent retention of flexural strength of up to 94 % of that of the neat epoxy. Furthermore, the composite filled with the DDG treated with epoxy functionalized oligomeric silsesquioxane showed even better flexural properties thanks to the improved wettability of the biobased resin with the filler. Dynamic mechanical analysis showed a 12 % increment in storage modulus for the surface-treated DDG composites over the biobased resin. The improved interfacial adhesion between the DDG and matrix through the surface modification was also observed in the morphological characterization with electron microscope. The study demonstrates the viability of combining DDG biofiller with the epoxy bioresin to produce novel biomaterials at low cost.